http://mmajunkie.comLOS ANGELES – The lone bright spot of Anthony Johnson’s otherwise disastrous weekend was about as good as it gets: an impressive, dominating victory over a quality opponent that clearly puts him in the welterweight’s title picture.

However a rough weight cut cost Johnson part of his purse, a $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus, and the respect of many fans.

But don’t expect the massive welterweight to move up to 185 pounds anytime soon.

Prior to his violent, 39-second thrashing of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Johnson tried to complete the full drop from an out-of-camp high of 220 pounds to the 171-pound limit for welterweight fights. But he never made it. Never got close in fact.

A seemingly dazed and exhausted Johnson was helped onto the stage at Friday’s official weighs and tipped the scale at 176 pounds. Johnson’s camp, though, was fully aware of the problem and notified Yoshida’s team ahead of time of the problem, and the two sides agreed for the fight to go on. Johnson ultimately surrendered 20 percent of his purse to Yoshida as a fine.

While much has been made of Johnson’s weight-cutting – which, by all standards, is massive, even in the MMA world – don’t expect the Georgia native to make his middleweight debut anytime soon.

“My weight is fine,” said Johnson (8-2), who’s now 4-1 (with a controversial loss to Kevin Burns that was later avenged) since losing to Rich Clementi as a late placement in his UFC debut.

Johnson’s agent, Ken Pavia, also confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that his client will remain a welterweight. He said the UFC 104 fiasco was an isolated incident and the result of a knee injury that slowed the weight-cutting process.

“I had an injury,” said Johnson, who now joins the likes of Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves and Mike Swick as the division’s top contenders. “It really held me back a bit from doing what I needed to do (to cut weight), and I got out of shape. But that’s nobody’s fault but my own.”

So, then, Johnson would tell you he has no one to blame but himself but losing out on the event’s $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus. UFC president Dana White said Johnson would have been the obvious winner of the award but couldn’t reward a fighter who missed weight.

“He should have … won it,” White said. “But since he didn’t make weight, he wasn’t eligible.”

Despite losing the hefty bonus check, Johnson luckily didn’t cost himself his spot on the UFC’s welterweight ladder. With UFC wins over Tommy Speer, Kevin Burns, Luigi Fioravanti and Yoshida – all via brutal knockouts – some may wonder when exactly Johnson will get a shot at the belt.

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